March 12, 2006, 12:31AM
William R. 'Obee' O'Brien, a successful WWII fighter pilot, helped train Chuck Yeager
'Straight shooter' enjoyed a lucky streak in combat
By LYNWOOD ABRAM
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
William R. "Obee" O'Brien, an ace P-51 Mustang fighter pilot during World War II who downed six enemy aircraft and won four Distinguished Flying Crosses, died last Sunday of heart problems. He was 84.
"He was a great guy to be in combat with," said his friend and fellow fighter pilot ace, Clarence E. "Andy" Anderson of Auburn, Calif., who shot down 16 enemy planes.
"Once you had a friendship with him, it never broke," Anderson said. "He took responsibility for what he did and expected other people to do that. He was a straight shooter."
O'Brien's son-in-law, Paul Neidner of Houston, called O'Brien "an intellect. He enjoyed history books, especially those about World War II."
During his service with the 357th Fighter Group's 363th Squadron of the 8th U.S. Air Force, O'Brien helped train Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager, who went on to break the sound barrier. Yeager and O'Brien were fast friends.
In 1983, when Yeager was featured on This is Your Life, O'Brien took part in the production.
On March 5, 1944, O'Brien and Yeager were piloting P-51s escorting B-24 bombers over France when Yeager's plane was shot down.
Yeager survived the crash and made his way back to England to rejoin his unit. The date of the crash was exactly 62 years before O'Brien's death.
O'Brien, a native of Tulsa, Okla., was the son of Terence O'Brien, an oil-field worker, and his wife, Agnes, a nurse.
Obee O'Brien graduated from Oklahoma Military Academy and trained as a pilot before joining the U.S. Army Air Corps. He took flight training at Luke Field in Phoenix and in Nevada before arriving in England in late 1943. In early 1944, O'Brien flew his first combat mission in a P-51.
The 357th Fighter Group was the first unit in the 8th Air Force to fly the new planes and the second unit to use them in combat.
The group eventually was credited with downing more than 600 enemy aircraft.
O'Brien downed his first enemy plane March 6, 1944, during a bomber-escort mission to Berlin.
O'Brien also earned eight Air Medals and the French Croix de Guerre. The French decoration was a unit citation bestowed in recognition of the role of the 357th Fighter Group in the liberation of France.
O'Brien survived 77 combat missions with 300 hours of combat time without a crash or injury.
"Like all who have been in combat," O'Brien once said, "sometimes you are attacked and not the attacker. Four times, (I was) the object of German attacks. Each instance resulted in casualties to both American and German forces. I believe that bad weather and light flak were the greatest causes of death to single-engine pilots of all nations who fought in Europe."
After the war, O'Brien earned bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Tulsa. He worked as a geophysicist for Standard Oil Co. The company transferred O'Brien to Houston during the 1960s.
O'Brien later became an independent oilman but never attained great wealth, according to his son, Houston lawyer Terry O'Brien.
O'Brien was "fairly firm, strait-laced. He couldn't have been a better father," Terry O'Brien said.
His dad, however, was adamant on one point: He didn't want his sons to follow in his footsteps in military aviation, and none did so.
"He told me he would disown me if I did," Terry O'Brien said. "He said he had seen enough people die in airplanes."
Survivors include his wife of 60 years, Sue Richardson O'Brien; a daughter, Sharon Neidner; and sons, Terry, Bill and Mark O'Brien, all of Houston.
Graveside services were Wednesday at Woodlawn Cemetery.
lynwood.abram@chron.com
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They are fading away boy's.
Robbie
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